Hedgehog at the Dumping Ground
by Lucy Labrador
Summary: Shadow's physical age is changed to ten years old. So he is now five years younger, hurt and alone, he is taken into a foster home the children there call 'The Dumping Ground.'COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

**Hedgehog at the Dumping Ground**

**Chapter 1**

**This is probably a very unusual crossover. **

_6:00am Prison Island_

A loud yell came from one of the prison cells in which their most wanted criminal was being held. He was crying out for help, for freedom. He wasn't the most wanted 'criminal' more like the most wanted 'victim'. He clutched the bars with his tired dirty hands and screamed, but all he got in return was a slap in the face by the guard.

He fell back in pain onto the floor and stayed there, crying quietly to himself. "Please…" he rasped."I haven't done anything… why do you guys want me?" No answer, the guard would not talk to him. "Please." he said again but a little louder. Still no answer, so he gave up, relaxing his muscles making him collapse completely onto the floor. He tried to be strong about this but failed, he had gone through too much, and now he'd locked up without trial.

_9:00am Prison Island_

The hedgehog was cruelly picked up and dragged by his shoulders out of the cell and into the nearest prison lab. "NO!" he yelled, they were going to experiment on him, he hadn't had that done to him in over 50 years. "Please!" he yelled as he was strapped onto a table. He started to shake with fear, there was no way out of this. He let out tears of pain and fear as they injected him with something. "What does that stuff do?" he asked shakily. He began to struggle as he felt his body change, and it hurt. He felt the straps getting loser, as if he was getting smaller, and when he screamed, it was no longer the scream of a man, and it was the cry of a child. Hearing this, he let out another scream of fear, what was happening to him. "What's going on!" his voice was of a higher pitch, again, the voice of a child.

The pain stopped and he took a look at himself. He screamed again. His furry chest was gone, instead it was a furry tummy, and he was a lot smaller, small enough to squeeze out of the straps. He ran for the door, but failed as his shoes came off, they were too big for his feet. "No!" he yelled, he would have to leave them behind. He tried to open the door, but it was not use, he was too small to reach the handle. He was picked up and taken back to his cell, he was left there.

He began to look at the size of the gaps between the bars, and the size of himself. He was now a lot smaller, so he could fit through them. Being smaller had its opportunities. It was a lot easier to hide and sneak out. He was free. But he was on an island, how would he get back to civilisation. Shadow wanted to do something his teenage self wouldn't normally do at a little thing like this, cry. "But I wanna get away from here…" he sobbed into his hands. He then realised, since he was smaller it was less weight to teleport with chaos control, therefore, he may be able to make it out of there. "Chaos Control!" he yelled, he didn't have a chaos emerald so he had to count on his remaining energy.

_4:30pm South-East England _

Where had he gone, he didn't know, all he did know is that he couldn't open his eyes, he was too tired. He was also, naked. He had lost his gloves and shoes. He managed to keep hold of his bands, they would not come off, which was a relief, he could lose a massive amount of power if he lost them. He was breathing slowly, and his breaths were shallow, he couldn't breathe very well. He began to cry silently again.

He began to hear footsteps, he tensed up, what if it was GUN? He felt himself being picked up gently. He let out a small whine, that's all the noise he could make, he was too weak. "Who… are you?" he groaned.

"I'm Mike, and I'm taking you somewhere safe." he said, he had a slight Irish accent. (**Is it Irish? :S**) Shadow continued to groan, then he passed out.

When he awoke, it felt as if he was on a sofa of some sort. He opened his eyes and looked at himself. He was a sorry site, his fur was scruffy and he was very dirty. "Eugh! What is that!" he heard a young female voice say, she sounded disgusted.

"Tracy don't…" he heard the man from earlier say, Shadow turned around to see them. The girl looked about 10 years old and had short, frizzy dark hair. She wore a red top and blue short. The man was also there, he looked as if he was in his 30's.

"Uh… Hi…" Shadow said. The same childish voice from earlier came out again. It was certain they had made him younger. Probably to make him weaker, but their plan backfired on them, it made it easier to escape, now GUN would never find him. "Where am I?" Shadow asked.

"The dumping ground!" the girl said, Mike sighed. "I'm Tracy!" she said, acting cocky. It made Shadow smirk, it reminded him of how cocky Sonic was.

"I'm Shadow… Shadow the hedgehog." he said, he didn't like the fact that he didn't sound that epic with his squeaky voice. He blushed, "I guess I should leave then." he said emotionlessly and got up, he fell back onto the sofa immediately again. "Just give me a minute…" he said nervously, painting.

"No… you have to stay, you're hurt… just lie down and rest." Mike said. Shadow lay back down and relaxed. "There… tell me when you're feeling a little better." he said and went to the door. "And no annoying him Tracy." he said sternly and left. Shadow gave out a small cough.

"So… how old are you?" he asked Tracy.

"10 and a half!" she boasted.

"Guess I'm about ten then…" he said weakly, she didn't really hear what he said. "So, you said this place is he dumping ground… what did you mean by that?"

"This is the place all the parents dump their kids when they don't want them anymore… but my mum's different… she had to bring me here because she was busy being a super model… and she'll come back for me one day… I know she will."

"You're lucky… I don't have parents at all… they died… fifty years ago…" Shadow said, looking sad.

"Fifty years ago? That's imposable… don't lie!" she said. Shadow just carried on sulking. "You must be hungry." she said breaking the silence.

"Yeah… haven't eaten in days." he said quietly again. Right on cue, his stomach started to rumble. "I just have to stop thinking about food… and I'll be okay."

"No… I'll sneak you some crisps… or some chocolate or something… I'll be right back." she said and ran to the kitchen. She stealthily sneaked in, checking if anyone was there. No one. So she went into the cupboards and found the crisps.

"Stop right there Tracy." she heard a voice say. A largely built man came into the room, he was dark skinned and looked a little annoyed. "What are you doing with those?" he asked.

"Nothing… I haven't got anything." she said looking innocent, holding them behind her back.

"What are these then?" he said looking smug as he came over and took them from her.

"I'm sorry Duke… but Shadow was hungry…" Tracy said.

"Well he can ask me for some proper food!" he smiled. Tracy sighed and stomped back to Shadow in a mood. To her horror, her 'friend' Peter was there talking to him, he was about 6 years old, he was short with messy curly hair.

"Peter, stop annoying him!" she said and pulled him away from Shadow.

"I was only talking to him." he said shyly.

"I'm okay." Shadow said with his weak voice. He still looked tired, his stomach let out another rumble. "Ung… d-did you get any food?" he asked her. Tracy looked guilty. "It's okay… hope you didn't get into trouble." he said. "If you did, I'll take full responsibility, I'm the one who encouraged you-"

"You're talking like an old person!" Tracy said cheekily. "It's pretty annoying."

"Well, to tell the truth, you're awfully irritating too-"

"You're doing it again!" she butted in again. Shadow just folded his arms and sulked, silence again. Until, there was a loud grumble from his stomach again. He bent over groaning, clutching his stomach. "I'll go tell Duke to start making tea now!" she ran off.

"Naïve child…" Shadow grumbled once she was gone.

"Aren't you a kid too?" Peter asked. Shadow sighed.

"Of course kid… I'm… ten…" Shadow said, sighing. He sat up on the sofa folding his arms.

"But Tracy's ten… and you called her a kid, as if she's younger than you." he said, this started to irritate Shadow.

"You're pretty intuitive, aren't you?" Shadow said smirking. "At least your gob isn't as big as hers."

"Excuse me!" they heard her say, Shadow looked up and Tracy was stood in the doorway. Shadow's ears drooped down to the sides of his head. "You can't talk that way about the daughter of a star!" she said proudly. "My mum will get her body guards to tech you a lesson."

"Tracy-" Peter tried to stop her. Shadow just let out a laugh,

"If your mom wants her guards to be dead… she can set them on me…" he clicked his knuckles looking determined.

"Shadow… there are no guards." Peter whispered to him. Shadow just smirked at Tracy. "Don't tell her I said that…"

"What makes you think YOU can defeat a whole super army!" Tracy said confidently.

"Wait a minute… I thought they were a few body guards… now it's super army?" he said sounding unconvinced. "If you're going to lie, do it right… besides, I could take on a whole super army!"

"I'm not lying, you're the liar, and how can a tiny little hedgehog take on a whole super army?" she said, also sounding unconvinced.

"Well… in this body maybe not… but then again… imaginary armies are pretty easy to defeat, don't you think?" he said, he got up and walked past her looking smug.

"Where are you going?" Tracy asked.

"To find Mark or whatever his name was… I'm sure he'd be glad to know that I'm okay now and I'll be on my way." Shadow said and walked down the corridor, the two of them followed him.

"It's not Mark its Mike, and you can't leave, you've only been here a while-" they all stopped as they were blocked by-

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Tracy Beaker and her little weed… and… who is this? Decided to get a pet did you?" a girl about Tracy's age said, she sounded very overconfident. Shadow began to growl quietly in his throat.

"Pet? I'm better than you humans… I'm no dog." he hissed.

"Shut up Justine… Shadow's better than you… he's my new friend… and don't you try and steal this one away from me!" Tracy screamed. They tried to get past but Justine and her friend stood their ground.

"Louise, you can't just join her in this can you? Let us past, it's three against two!" Tracy said to the other girl.

"No, you let us past." Louise said, she didn't sound anywhere as confident as Justine. Shadow sighed, he didn't want to be stood there for an hour, and he decided to get things moving. He picked the girls up by the legs, one in each hand, turned around and put them down. He was pretty gentle and safe about it too.

"Let's go." he said emotionlessly and lead the way to the office, leaving the tow girls looking as shocked as anything.

"Shadow… how did you do that? Have you got super muscles or something?" Peter asked.

"Yeah… do you believe me now when I say I can take on a super army? I can do better than that though… much better… that was like, lifting a leaf!"

"Well… maybe…." Tracy said, admitting that he was strong. "But my mum has hired the best and strongest men in the world, you'd never be able to defeat them… their like ninjas, you'd never even know they were coming-"

"Yeah yeah… of course." Shadow said, shutting her up. Tracy looked angry, Shadow didn't believe her stories, he interrupted her, and no one ever does that! They got to an office. "Is this it?"

"Yeah…" Tracy said looking at him with narrowed eyes, she went inside without knocking, this made Shadow face palm.

"Tracy, you know you should knock before you come in!" Mike said, he looked down to see Shadow coming through the door. "Oh, Shadow it's good to see your up." he smiled.

"Yes… thank you for your help… but I think I should be on my way now." Shadow said and started to turn around.

"Wait, do you have a home to go to? I'll call your parents if you like." Mike said urgently, he didn't want Shadow to leave without knowing he would be safe.

"I don't have a home… and my 'parents' are dead." Shadow said solemnly.

"Oh…" Mike felt a little bit uncomfortable now. "Well… would you like to stay here… we could get you fostered… you could use a loving home."

"Not more than we do!" Tracy interrupted.

"I can fend for myself thanks." Shadow said, he tried to leave but Tracy stopped him.

"You can't leave! Stay here, this place is so boring, you're the only exiting thing that's happened in weeks." she begged. "Please stay…" Shadow sighed and gave in. "Yes!" she cheered.

"I'll call Elaine, tell her we could be having someone new to stay." he said and went to the phone.

"Oh no… please don't say Elaine the pain is coming now!" Tracy sighed. "Sorry Shadow, but you're going to meet one of the most annoying people ever."

"It's okay… I'm sure I've met worse." Shadow said, he didn't seem bothered.

"Wait… where will Shadow sleep, there's no spare room." Peter asked.

"Well, Tracy's room is quite big… willing to share the room for a while?" Mike said to Tracy. Shadow and Tracy looked at each other with shocked looks.

"If we have to…" Shadow said reluctantly. "I'd rather share than to have nowhere to stay at all…"

"I can't share though!" Tracy complained.

"Bye then…" Shadow teased.

"Fine, we can share… but you better not annoy Me." she threatened. Shadow smirked.

"Don't you worry… I won't…" he said. And they all went to make room for Shadow. Shadow had a good feeling about this, he now had a home… he couldn't stay too long though, at least until he got used to being a ten year old, then he could fight again, and get his old body back.

**Lucy Labrador**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hedgehog at the Dumping Ground**

**Chapter 2**

**Thanks for the reviews Swift, Hande, MeggyMooMoo and Shadowrukia6613. **

Everyone was then called to tea, Shadow had showered so he wasn't as scruffy any more, and given some small clothes and shoes to wear. He wore a red T-Shirt and dark jeans with red and black sneakers.

This was the chance for everyone to meet Shadow. There were quite a few kids in 'The Dumping Ground' for Shadow to meet. He was quite nervous about how they would treat him, since they were human and he was just a little hedgehog. Shadow sat down by Tracy and Peter as they were the people he felt most comfortable with.

He kept his usual solemn, moody face as he ate and glared at any one who looked at him as if he was strange. "No body's going to say hello to Shadow then?" Mike said, surprised at the silence.

"They're naive children, of course they aren't going to talk to me, and I'm a hedgehog!" Shadow said angrily.

"Well… we all know not to treat someone different just because they're not the same." Mike said, waiting for someone to talk to him. Shadow just carried on eating, not expecting a reply.

"Don't worry Shadow. We're your friends." Tract said looking smug. "They're all just jealous that _we _got to meet you first!" she teased the others.

"No need to tease us Tracy… we're not jealous…" said a boy, he had a 'cockney' accent. "Hi Shadow I'm Ryan…. And that's Zach." he said pointing to his twin brother, he leaned over the table to shake Shadow's hand. Shadow didn't retaliate, he just shook his hand. "There."

"Hi…" Shadow said, he wasn't sure whether to trust him. He then sulked a little, he knew then the attention would come flooding in, once one person started it off, he knew the rest would follow.

"Hi! I'm Maxy!" said the little boy who was sat next to Peter, he got up and ran past Peter to Shadow and hugged childishly. Shadow tried to pull away, but a ten year old human was bigger than a ten year old hedgehog, so it was quite difficult to do. Eventually Mike had to pull Maxy off Shadow.

"Hi, I'm Adele." said a much older girl, she must have been in her teen years. Shadow smiled at her… he was glad there was someone his age there, but he was ten, not fifteen. She probably looked down on him, when he should be older than her. This made Shadow sigh to himself.

"You've already met Louise and Justine… I think you should stay away from them, knowing how they treated you earlier!" Tracy said smartly and arrogantly.

"How did they treat him?" said Jenny, another care worker. She looked quite young and had dark skin and long dark hair.

"They said he was my pet and wouldn't let us past as we were trying to get to the office." Tracy said, she then stuck her tongue out at the two girls.

"Then Shadow picked us up and threw us out of the way!" Justine said urgently.

"I don't recall doing that… I picked you up and gently put you two behind us to stop the arguments…" Shadow said calmly, with his eyes closed looking annoyed, "Don't exaggerate next time." Tracy sighed, he was talking like and adult again.

"Well… don't pick them up next time, call us." Jenny said. "Wait… you… picked them up? You must be strong!"

"Yeah! He could destroy and whole super army!" Tracy boasted. Shadow sighed, laying his head on the table.

"He's such a liar, just like you Tracy." Justine yelled. They heard a small,

"I could… if I was a little bigger… I'm too small at the moment." from Shadow. "I just need some time… enough of this…" he lifted his head off the table.

"See, he could if his was just a little bit big-" Tracy stopped as Shadow slammed his fist onto the table.

"Stop it! They get it, I said so, don't repeat what I say! You're just making things ten times worse!" Shadow yelled, he pulled on his ears a little, as if he was going crazy.

"I think we should all just eat now…" Mike said, becoming worried there would now be a full blown argument at the table.

After tea, they all sat down in the living room, to watch some TV. It was quite crowded like I dinner, and Shadow didn't like it. His tail curled downwards, in fear that he might get stepped on of kicked since he was so small.

There were many arguments over what they were going to watch, all of the noise was irritating Shadow and he was starting to feel uncomfortable. He looked up at the door and someone new came in, a woman. "Oh great, now Elaine the pain is here!" Tracy said cheekily. Shadow's ears flattened to the side of his head.

"Shadow… would you like to come and have a chat?" she said, she had short dark hair and olive coloured skin. Shadow followed her to the office looking nervous.

He came out later looking annoyed and fed up. "How dare she treat me like a little kid, talking down to me like that." Shadow grumbled to Tracy. "Talking to me as if a may not be able to understand English… I can understand English perfectly… and many other languages for a fact!" he said, sounding annoyed with Elaine.

"Yeah right, no wonder you two are friends, you both lie like each other!" Justine said in a nary voice.

"Unlike her, that is not a lie… Orokana baka." ('**Stupid Idiot' in Japanese… I used Google Translate! :D**)

"I bet you just made it up!" Justine said. Shadow let out a snort of laughter.

"Zur Hölle fahren." he said, and smirked.

"What was that?" Justine said. "It sounded real, and it didn't sound friendly."

"It was 'go to hell' in German." Shadow said and walked to the door. "Hey, Tracy, could you show me to our room?" he asked, she led him out of the room and down the corridor. "I hope I don't get into trouble for that…"

"Don't worry, you won't, nobody likes a snitch… well, nobody likes her anyway, apart from Louise. Louise used to be my friend, until Justine stole her from me." Tracy said in an angry voice. They got to the room.

"Hmm… looks like we're going to need an extra bed…" Shadow said noticing there was only one bed in the room. "This is a nice room…"

"I did have an even better room, but Justine stole it from me." Tracy said looking sad.

"This girl had stolen a lot of things from you, or are you just exaggerating?" Shadow said, looking unconvinced.

"Well… I did leave for three months… but, they knew I always return, I can't believe they didn't see it coming and just let Justine take all of my stuff." This made Shadow smile.

"Stop thinking the world is against you… it isn't, I used to think that, but it isn't. Those people are trying to do you good, or they wouldn't be doing this job." Shadow said. "So just give 'em a break." Tracy sighed,

"You're doing it again… what's wrong with you?" she said cheekily, Shadow just gave a 'Hmph', he then blushed. He really didn't sound that good with his immature voice.

"It's getting late… nearly eight… what time to people go to bed here?" Shadow asked.

"About eight for me… I know, it's so unfair. They should treat us better." Tracy said sadly and sighed. "I'm going to get ready for bed, you should too… more stupid school tomorrow… you'll probably going to have to come too." she said, this made Shadow's eyes widen. "Haven't you ever been to school before?"

"I have had some form of education… but I haven't been to school. I don't need school." Shadow said. "But they won't believe me… I'm going to have to prove it to them…" he said, and yawned. "Despite the fact that I slept for a couple of hours earlier… I'm so tired… I'm getting ready for bed too." Shadow said, Tracy sighed but Shadow stopped her complained about the fact that he talked like an adult.

Soon, most people were ready for bed, apart from Adele, since she was a lot older. Shadow looked very fidgety now. "Shadow, why are you acting really weird and… twitching and things?" Tracy asked. Shadow started to blush again.

"N-nothing…" he said and got into bed, well, his sleeping bag, he didn't have a bed yet. The lights went out and they tried to sleep, until Shadow started to groan.

"What's wrong?" Tracy whispered angrily, Shadow refused to tell her. "Well shut up then!" she hissed and tried to sleep. Shadow kept moving in the sleeping bag, they had now adjusted to the dark and Tracy could see he was sat up and bent over. "What are you doing?" Shadow groaned again.

"I… really have to use the bathroom…" he said, the darkness hid his cheeks that were now very red. "I don't know where it is…"

"Well, I'm not getting up to show you… can't you wait until morning or find it yourself?" she said sounding irritated.

"I can't wait, and if I could find it, I would have gone hours ago… come on… please." he begged. Tracy sighed and got up in a strop, she pulled Shadow into the hallway and let him to the toilets. "Come on, hurry up, It's coming…" Shadow's voice sounded really squeaky and urgent. She pushed him into the bathroom and shut the door.

She then heard a loud sigh from inside, and Shadow came out again. "Thanks." he said and they went back to the bedroom. "I'm so sorry… I kind of overestimated myself there… thought I could wait…" he said feeling embarrassed. "I'm normally a lot, better than this… and stronger."

"Liar, you talk grown up, you act grown up, but you're not." she said getting back into bed.

"You're right…" Shadow said, getting back into his sleeping bag. The house was now silent, everyone had gone to bed. Shadow yawned, he rolled over and closed his eyes. "Goodnight…" he whispered.

"Night…" Tracy said back, and they finally went to sleep.

It was now midnight and nothing could be heard at all, apart from the odd snore, or the wind outside. Everyone was fast asleep until- "**MARIA!**" everyone heard someone scream, Tracy shot awake to see Shadow sat up looking terrified, as if he had just woken up form a bad dream, painting heavily. "Maria…" he whined. All of the other kids and the care workers came flooding into the bedroom and turned the light on to see Shadow clutching his blanket and shaking.

"Shadow… why did you scream?" Jenny said sounding annoyed, but concerned at the same time.

"Maria… she… died…" he whimpered, tears rolling down his cheeks. He wanted to stop the tears, but being a child, he couldn't stop it like he could when he was older. "I want her back… but she's gone…" he sobbed, he was not crying allowed like a little child. Jenny went over to comfort him while the others went back to bed.

Still crying, Shadow explained to her what happened to Maria and why he was upset, and that he relived all of it in his dream. It took him a couple of hours but he finally cried himself to sleep. "Finally…" Tracy sighed.

"Come and get me if he starts up again, okay?" she said, feeling sad for the poor hedgehog. Tracy nodded and everyone was soon asleep again, after that loud disturbance.

**Lucy Labrador**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hedgehog at the Dumping Ground **

**Chapter 3**

**Thanks for the many Reviews: Swift, Hande, MeggyMooMoo and Shadowrukia6613. 8 Reviews from 2 chapters! :D Thanks! **

The next morning was all a big rush, everyone grabbing things, getting dressed packing bags, all for school. Shadow didn't like it. "What's with the rush? Why is everyone so frantic this morning?" Shadow asked Tracy, he sounded so innocent and sweet.

"It's like this every morning, we need to get ready for school on time, or we'll be late." Tracy said, "It's because we're not woken up early enough… I know, how tragic, the adults aren't even organised enough." she said. Shadow sighed, he knew that wasn't the true story as he thought back to nearly an hour earlier.

_Shouting was heard and the care workers were running around to wake everyone up, Duke banging his cooking pot, trying to entice everyone with his delicious cooking. Nobody moved but Shadow, he got up and packed his sleeping back into the corner. He went downstairs expecting Tracy would soon follow but he ate breakfast all alone. _

_Half an hour later when Shadow was ready and reading a book in the living room, everyone else ran downstairs, some just grabbing a piece of toast and running off, all in a hurry to get ready. _

Shadow just played along. "Yeah… really disorganised." he said with no enthusiasm. And sat down again, waiting for everyone to finish getting ready. "Call me when you're done being late." Shadow called to Tracy who ran upstairs to get her bag. He then folded his arms in a huff, he tried to turn the TV on, and it wouldn't. "Come on…" he tried again and again, pressing the button on the remote harder and harder. "Damn this…" he grumbled and got up to press the button on the TV, still nothing. The screen stayed blank. "What's wrong with this thing!" he said allowed angrily.

Mike who was passing by the living room poke his head around the door to see Shadow tried to turn the TV on. "Uh, sorry Shadow, but that TV won't turn on in the morning… sorry." Mike said.

"Oh… parental settings… I'll just, carry on reading while the others get ready." Shadow said in a mood.

"I'm sure they won't take that long…" he said and walked off down the corridor. Shadow carried on reading the nearest book, it wasn't a very interesting one either. "I'm pretty sure School is more interesting than this." he said and put the book down, he went out of the living room to see some of the kids leaving the house. "Finally." he said and saw Tracy coming down the stairs. "Let's finally leave… I think we're late already…"

"Yeah, come on!" Tracy grabbed his wrist and pulled him out of the door and down the street. She nearly fell over as Shadow stopped. "What are you doing… I can't be late again, I'll get detention." she said an noticed Shadow looking into a hedge, he picked down and put his hand underneath it. "What are you doing!" she said impatiently.

"A… chaos emerald…" **(Thanks Swift.)** Shadow breathed and took his hand out from under the hedge with a giant green shining jewel. "Maybe this I why I chaos controlled here…" he said to himself. "I could get out of here now and fight GUN…" he said, then noticed Tracy was looking at the jewel too. "Ugh… this is nothing… forget you ever saw It." he said and put it in his pocket. He started to walk again.

"Shut up, I did see it, you can't just do that, that must be worth a fortune… we have to do something about it…" she said. "Someone may have lost it, we could get a reward if we return it!" she said, imagining being rich.

"I'll tell you who lost it." Shadow said, there was pause, "I did, it's mine, it's important and I need it."

"You liar! You're just saying it so you can keep it!" she said and tried to take it, Shadow dodge from her grasp.

"This is no ordinary gem… it's a chaos emerald… it holds an massive amount of power, and it'll help me become strong again." he said. "For now, I think I'll just keep it hidden." he said. Then Louise and Justine caught up with them. Shadow hid the emerald back in his pocket, but it was too late.

"What's that!" Justine said, it was more like a command than a question. She tried to take it from Shadow, but Shadow could dodge her as well.

"Leave me alone… it's mine!" Shadow said and stuck his middle finger up to her, Justine and Louise let out a large gasp.

"We are SO telling Mike!" Louise said.

"Go ahead." Shadow said emotionlessly. "I'll just have to tell Mike that you two were in each other's room stuffing your faces with sweets last night." Shadow said smartly. They both looked shocked and nervous.

"How did you know? Were you spying on us?" Justine said worriedly.

"No… but the door was open a bit when I… passed it… and I saw what you were doing." Shadow said, also becoming nervous.

"Oh…" Tracy said, it must have been as she was taking Shadow to the toilet that would be why he was secretive of why he passed the room. Also that he must have a good eyesight to see all of that within a split second, as they were rushing while they passed the room. She looked at Shadow who turned to carry on walking.

Tracy ran after him while the other two girls crossed the road so they could walk a distance from them. "We should hurry, it's nearly nine o'clock… that's when school starts isn't it?" Shadow asked, still walking. Tracy nodded. "Let's get a move on then…"

"Were not going to make it in time…" Tracy said, looking over the road to see Louise and Justine running, "It's all because of them…" she sighed. She started to walk again. "Let's not bother running, we're not going to get there in time."

"Oh yes we are!" Shadow said, he grabbed her wrist and started to run, he wasn't so fast without his skating shoes, but he took out his chaos emerald and said his two famous words. "CHAOS CONTROL!" he said and there was a flash.

They suddenly found themselves at the school gates, looking out to the street to see Louise and Justine running towards the school, they waved cockily and shut the gate, they ran inside and were just in time. "Wow, Shadow…" Tracy whispered as they sat in class, Shadow was lucky enough to be seated by Tracy, she would be the one to show him around until he knew his way around the school.

Everyone was now sat down, then Louise and Justine came in looking out of breath. Tracy and Shadow smirked as they were told off for being late. They walked past Shadow and Tracy's table to get to their Table in the back, as they were coming Tracy tapped Shadow's shoulder. "Shadow…" she whispered and pointed to the space they were about to step in, Shadow caught on as to what she was saying immediately and swiftly stuck out his foot, Justine who was in the front, tripped over it and Louise tripped over Justine. Shadow put his foot back in before anyone could notice.

Mass laughter erupted in the classroom, as they got up with their faces crimson red, brushing themselves off. "You two girls sit down now, I don't want you disrupting my lesson anymore or you're in detention." the cranky teacher shouted from the front, Miss Sharp. **(Took me ages to find her name.) **

Shadow was almost bored to death during the lesson. **(Oh God, this is Sonic Goes to Taskers all over again.) **He knew all of it already, but like he had said to Tracy the night before, he had to prove he was smart, maybe he would be moved up, or even better, let out of school altogether. Shadow, of course was the first to finish, and he all of his work was correct, etc. the teacher noticed this, "Right… who put you up to this? You obviously got the answers off my desk… Tracy?" she said to Shadow, turning to Tracy.

"No… look!" Shadow said, he showed that he wasn't hiding anything. "I've just already been taught all of this stuff." Shadow said.

"He's a super genius!" Tracy boasted.

"Maybe not a super genius…" Shadow said nervously. I just don't need teaching… not primary school work anyway. Have you got anything more… secondary school material?" he said, the Teacher looked grim. "Does that… bother you?"

"No…" she struggled to say and went to find the hardest work she had. Tracy started to giggle while Shadow looked smug and proud of himself.

"It's only a matter of time before I've proved enough and I'm going to a higher class." Shadow said.

"NO!" she said, "I don't want you to go… besides, this is the highest class. We're all going to secondary School next year." Shadow sighed, he had to get back to his normal form, not sit in a school going over things he had learned over fifty years ago.

"I guess I'm just going to have to endure it…" he said to himself.

At break time he was bombarded with many comments from other kids about how different he was to them. They came in the form of insults and compliments. The day was going so slow for him. "Shadow… this is so boring… wanna do something daring?" Tracy said excitedly.

"Like what?" Shadow asked.

"Like… prank someone… or… walk out of school…" she said mischievously. "Come on…" she begged. Shadow sighed, then he got an idea, he started to run towards the building. "Shadow!" Tracy yelled and ran after him. "What are you doing?" she asked. Shadow was by the building wall, he was looking up the wall,

"Planning my route… I'm going to the top!" he pointed up. Tracy gasped.

"But… that's too dangerous." she said. Shadow looked at her confidently. "Oh, go on then…" she said and offered him help.

"Oh no… I can do this myself." he said. He jumped up onto the windowsill, then onto the nearest drain pipe and climbed up it to the top. He was then on the roof, it wasn't much of a struggle either. He stood proud and tall and the roof, nearly losing his balance, soon there was pointing, then everyone was looking at him.

He felt okay being bad, and acting like this, he was a kid, for now. So he may as well act like one while he had the chance. Being naughty, but not the extent that it was a crime, wasn't something he did very often. Normally something bad he did ended up on his criminal record. But this was time where he could just 'let it all go'. He was a child, and it felt great.

This all soon caught the teachers' attention and they all came out to see him sitting on the roof. "Come down now young man!" one of them screamed. Shadow got out his chaos emerald and did chaos control, he was now on the floor right by the teacher. "Where did he go?" she said, looking up in confusion, she felt something tap her leg. She looked down to her side. "Oh my gosh!" she screamed, he was right there. "You're coming in with me young man!" she said and he was taken inside.

After school, all of the 'dumping ground' kids walked home all together for once to praise Shadow for his great work. "Wow Shadow, that was amazing, you showed Tracy who can be the baddest!" Said Zach smugly.

"I'm the one who encouraged him!" Tracy butted in urgently, hoping she would get some credit. Shadow sighed.

"And you also said it was too dangerous." Shadow said, and smirked at her. The other's laughed.

"Looks like you have your work cut out, don't you Tracy?" Justine said arrogantly. Tracy scowled at her.

"Guys, this is nothing, I can do better… and it's all thanks to this." Shadow said, showing them all chaos emerald.

"It's that thing again, what is it?" Justine said angrily.

"It's a chaos emerald… like I've said before, it holds and massive amount of power, and it enabled me to teleport off the roof and scare and life out of that teacher." he smiled, and put it back in his pocket. They walked into the street, then into their house.

Meanwhile, a suspicious man who was reading a paper looked smug, sitting on the bench the kids had just passed. He took the paper down away from his face and put it on his lap and pressed a button on his headset. "It's me… yes… I've found him." he said, smirking, looking over the road at the house.

"Well done agent… let's move in…get somewhere safe and give us your location… let's see what the commander has to say about this…" the voice on the other end said, and the man walked away with his paper, as if he had never been there.

**Thanks Swift for the little chaos emerald idea, without it, this would have been just a pointless chapter. **

**Lucy Labrador**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hedgehog at the Dumping Ground**

**Chapter 4**

**Thanks for the reviews; Swift and Hande. **

They all got into the house and Shadow was called into the office immediately. Tracy waited outside the office for him nervously. Shadow sat down on the little chair opposite Mike who was looking quite angry. Shadow began to sweat as he remembered all actions have a consequence. "Shadow, we had a phone call from the school earlier." Mike said. Shadow gulped.

"Sorry?" he said nervously, his ears drooped to the side of his head. He looked too cute to shout at, Mike sighed.

"Was it anything to do with Tracy?" he asked, it was more of a statement than a question, there was no doubt that Tracy had something to do with it.

"Well… what would make you think that?" he asked. Mike gave him a look of disapproval. "Okay… yes." Shadow sighed. The door burst open.

"Shadow, you snitch, I thought we were friends!" it was Tracy and she was raging.

"Tracy, you were listening?" Mike looked surprised… but remembering it was Tracy, he was no longer surprised, of course she would do something like that.

"She only watched me… in fact… she told me what I was going to do was dangerous… and that's no lie… so, she didn't do all badly." Shadow said, looking at her. Tracy smirked.

"See, I can be good, so, what's the reward? And extra pound of pocket money each week for a month?" she said expecting big.

"But! Whose idea was it to do that?" he asked, they both looked guilty. "Let me see, Tracy?" She started to sulk.

"I said do something bad, because it was so boring on the playground… not climb on the roof." she sighed. "I meant, something like a harmless prank…"

"Well, it was bad, so you're going to bed early Shadow." Mike said, Shadow sulked, accepting his punishment. Tracy was surprised she wasn't the one being punished for once.

At the dinner table Shadow was given many looks of approval by the children, like he was one of them now. Tracy was somewhat disliking this, she liked to think of herself as the worst behaving kid in the dumping ground, and Shadow was stealing that title.

So, Shadow was sent to bed an hour early for what he had done, and he accepted it. But being a child, he just wanted to cry. The tears started to fall heavily, 'Why did I have to do it? I should have listened to her, it was dangerous…' he thought, and sobbed into his pillow. He didn't understand, he felt like a prisoner all over again. He heard the other children, downstairs having fun, which made him cry harder. He felt so alone. Like on prison island. Like the night before he cried himself to sleep.

Just as the night before, he let out a scream of terror, but it was worse than the last, making everyone come to the door. Jenny came in again, "Come on Shadow, its okay…" she said, and she had to comfort him again. Everyone went back to bed again, even more annoyed than the last time. After a few hours Shadow was asleep again.

The next morning, Shadow stayed in bed like the rest of them. "Not you too Shadow, come on." Mike said, annoyed that the only person who acted grown up, was now acting like a child like the others. "Why are you doing this?"

"If you treat me like a child, I'll act like one… when I was free, I would do stuff like that all of the time, I would jump from building to building, sometimes I jumped off of tall sky scrapers." Shadow said, remembering when he was free. "And I climb a two floor building and I'm punished."

"Shadow… you just went to bed and hour early… it was nothing." Mike said. "It's all over now, back to normal today… its Friday… even later bedtime." he said cheerfully.

"It's not about the bedtime… it's about how you treated me…" Shadow said. "You treated me, like a child."

"You _are_ a child." he said feeling annoyed. Shadow couldn't retaliate, to him, he was a child. What could he say? Shadow was silent. "Will you please get up-"

"But I'm not a child… on the outside I may look like it, but on the inside, I'm just as adult as you are… I just have to-"

"Enough…" he said softly. "I can see you've picked up on storytelling fro, Tracy." he said smiling.

"It's true…" Shadow whined. Mike walked to the door.

"You don't want to be late for school after what you did yesterday." Mike said, he was now by the door of the bedroom ready to leave.

"Okay…" Shadow sighed and got up.

When they got into school, everything went along as usual, until the teacher had an announcement. "We have a special visitor today, and he is going to talk to us about the military." the teacher said, some of the students were exited, especially the boys. "Were very lucky to have them… they only just volunteered last night. They'll be here this afternoon after lunch, so be on your best behaviour for them." she said, then everyone had to carry on with their work.

Shadow became a little bit nervous. Militaries weren't his favourite thing, at least it wasn't GUN though. It couldn't be, they were in America, and this was Britain. So he relaxed, hopefully whoever was representing this military wouldn't get too suspicious about a little hedgehog in a classroom.

The afternoon came around quick, too quick. Shadow didn't want to stay in school. He hated the armed forces, they were always after him no matter what. He would just have to stay low and not draw attention to himself.

The visitor came in and Shadow nearly fainted at the sight, and old man with grey hair wearing a GUN uniform came in looking smug. 'It might not be him…'' Shadow crossed his fingers and thought to himself. But it was him, he had his distinctive odd eyes and commanders' uniform. Shadow wanted scream and run, but he couldn't. Maybe he wouldn't recognise him in the school uniform.

He slumped down in his chair, to make himself less visible and hoped it would work, or he'd be a prisoner again. The commander started a presentation about the work he does, Shadow listened like the rest of the class. The presentation was okay, until he got to a certain part. "At GUN we also keep dangerous monsters locked up, so they don't hurt anyone. Unfortunately, one of them more… rodent like ones got away. But I'm sure we'll catch the little runt." the commander said, smirking.

Shadow let out a small growl, only Tracy could hear it. The commander started to walk between the columns of desks. Shadow looked at Tracy with pleading eyes, pointing to her hoody. She gave it to him, he put it on so all the commander saw was an unusually small kid **(Edward Elric perhaps?) **in a hoody that was too big for him. Shadow was unseen. "Well, that's all." The Commander said feeling confused. He had wasted all of that time for nothing, he left.

Shadow sighed with relief and took off the hoody, it was a big one, so he was completely hidden within it. "I'm so scared…" he said to Tracy. "If he finds me, he's going to take me back to Prison Island. And I'll be locked up again." he said with a shaky, breathless voice.

"What is this all about, I have no idea why he's after you." Tracy said, feeling slightly annoyed that Shadow was going on about something she knew nothing about.

"I'll explain…" he sighed. And went into a story full of detail about how he was considered a dangerous experiment and is now a wanted criminal and that the commander hates his guts etc.

"Wow… you're in hiding?" she asked, a bit of excitement in her voice. Shadow nodded. "Me and my mum were in hiding once… from the paparazzi." she said, going into story mode. "We hid out in this secret basement, under… the queen's palace!" she began to smile, and Shadow began to sigh. "We were found, but the queen was so kind enough to let us stay, so we got to stay at the royal palace for weeks!"

"Must have been fantastic…" Shadow said, again with no enthusiasm. "Though, my idea of hiding is something a little less comfortable." he said with a dreary voice "how am I going to do this… what if he comes back… he must have known I was here. This couldn't have been a coincidence." Shadow said to Tracy, she was now getting bored, Shadow noticed this. "Bored, huh? Well, that's how I feel when you ramble on about things that never happen." he said and got on with his work. Tracy looked at him angrily.

"Well at least I'm not on the run from the law." she tutted and also got on with her work. Shadow became a bit more worried, a girl like her could let out the secret, if she could talk so much, then she probably would. But it was all about trust.

Later they got home, and all Shadow wanted to do was have dinner and go to bed. He sat up in his room waiting to be called for dinner. He was so bored, but the kids had taken over the TV and were watching cartoons, so he had nothing to do down there.

There was a knock on the door, and Jenny opened it. The same man from before, the commander of course came in. "No need to alarm you miss, but could be do a check of the house, there's been an escape of a certain small animal, and it's known to go hiding in other people's homes. We'd just like to check." he said. Tracy could see this, so she ran upstairs.

"Shadow, he's here, you have to hide!" Tracy exclaimed when she went into her room. Shadow began to sweat with fear. "I know, the fire escape, we can hide out in the shed." she said, they went to the hallway, ran down the metallic stairs of the fire escape and ran down the garden to the shed. "I go here a lot to hide."

"Do you?" Shadow said, he sounded scared, his heart was racing, and he looked as if he was going to faint any second.

"Don't panic so much! You'll faint." she said, and waved her hand over his face to fan him, he looked weak. "It's okay… it'll be okay, they never find us-" the door opened. Shadow's heart stopped.

"Tracy… what are you and Shadow doing in here." came Peter's weedy little voice. They both sighed with relief, they pulled Peter inside and shut the door. "Shadow's afraid of people like him… so were going here for a while. Until he feels better."

"Oh… shall I tell Jenny you're here, she's looking for you." Peter said. "She asked me to help look-"

"No. You can't." she said urgently. They heard footsteps coming down the path to the shed. "Shadow." she whispered and threw a sheet over him. Tracy started to pretend to be looking for something, she nudged peter to he'd play along.

The door opened, and it was the commander. "What are you kids doing in here?" he asked in a deep voice.

"Just looking for something… I think I left my… spade in here… were going to the beach weekend you see." Tracy lied nervously.

"So, haven't seen anything suspicious lately?" he asked. They shook their heads. "Okay then… I'll be off." he said and left. He walked inside the house. "Thank you miss, and… have fun at the beach this weekend." he said and left, driving away in his van, leaving Jenny looking confused.

"The… beach?" she said, and saw Tracy, Peter and Shadow coming in.

"The beach sounds like a great idea Jenny… shall we go?" Tracy asked innocently. Jenny sighed, now she'd would have to tell the kids no… knowing they would keep asking until she said yes.

**Lucy Labrador**

Top of Form


	5. Chapter 5

**Hedgehog at the Dumping Ground **

**Chapter 5**

**Thanks for the reviews Hande and Swift. You two are the best in the World! :D **

Soon it was Friday night, and all of the kids were excited about going to the beach. They had their stuff packed already, and an atmosphere of excitement and suspense filled the house. Since they lived quite far away from the sea, they would take a while to drive there, so they hardly went. So when they did, the kids loved it.

Shadow wasn't that enthusiastic about it, there was nothing special to him about the beach, or any faraway place for that matter. He had been to other planets, so there was no reason for him to be exited. At least he wouldn't be in the house all day though.

So, they all went to bed, all was quiet, no one wanted to disturb any of the care workers in fear that they might change their minds and decide not to go. Shadow slept quite well that night too, school was tiring. Being bored all day, can tire a little hedgehog out. He slept soundlessly, clutching his chaos emerald in his hand, as if it were his teddy bear. He felt a twitch, and en emptiness in his hand.

He shot up, opening his eyes suddenly, to see none other than Justine running out of the door, with- "My Chaos Emerald!" **(Thanks Hande.) **Shadow dashed out of the door to get it back. It was dark though, and he didn't know the layout of the house as well as the other's yet. So, he was blindly walking through the corridors, until his eyes got used to the darkness. Then he could see faint shapes, he saw the door to her bedroom and a faint glow inside. "I've got you…" he said under his breath, he went inside to see her and Louise giggling away, "What are you…" Shadow's mouth dropped open.

Louise was holding a paint brush dripping with pink paint and Justine was holding the now pink Emerald. Shadow couldn't believe it. "My emerald, it's… it's… pink…" he said getting tears in his eyes. "I hate you!" he yelled and ran back to his room. Luckily, no one was woken up by this, apart from Tracy.

"What's with all the running around?" she asked sleepily, just waking up.

"They… painted my emerald… pink…" Shadow said angrily. "How could they?" he said, he had to get the paint off, he concentrated his power on the emerald, and steam started to come off it, a hissing, burning sound came but the paint only dried further. "No!" He exclaimed. He ran to the nearest sink to wash it.

An hour later he came back looking happy, but tired, Tracy was asleep again, he had taken ages on it, but the paint was gone. He got back into his sleeping bag, hoping they would buy him a bed soon. He went to sleep again.

Morning came around too soon, and Shadow still had a grudge against the two girls. "Shadow, you look tired… didn't you get enough sleep?" Jenny asked him. "At least you didn't have another of those nightmares."

"Yeah… had, trouble sleeping…" Shadow said, it sounded very uncertain, Jenny noticed he was looking at Justine and Louise with hatred.

"Please… don't tell me something happened last night…" she sighed. There was a loud complain from all of the children, they feared something bad had happened and they wouldn't go to the beach after all.

Shadow thought to himself, he could tell and get justice for himself but risk not going to the beach and breaking everyone's hearts. Or he could leave it until later, maybe not get any justice, but go to the beach. "Nothing… happened…" Shadow sighed. "It's fine… I did have trouble sleeping… I've always been like that, it's nothing new." he made it up as he went along.

"Okay then, come on everyone, hurry up if you want to get there before midday!" she called out, and everyone hurried up with their breakfast and rushed upstairs to get changed. Shadow, for once, wasn't the first one to be ready. He wasn't as enthusiastic as the others.

They all soon got in the minivan and Mike drove off. It would take them a couple of hours to get there, but within ten minutes into the journey, Shadow was wishing he had been the toilet before they left. He began to groan to himself. Tracy noticed this, "Oh, Shadow, why didn't you go before you left the house?" she said, sounding fed up with him.

"I don't know… I must have forgot…" he said, looking a bit pale. "We have to stop." he said groaned.

"We can't stop… we won't get there in time!" Tracy said aloud,

"What's wrong now?" Jenny said overhearing their conversation.

"I have to go to the bathroom… badly." Shadow said urgently, using his puppy dog eyes.

"We virtually just left the house… do you have to go, right this minute?" she asked, Shadow nodded his head quickly.

"We can't stop, we'll be late, we need all the time we can get at the beach, we hardly ever get to go, don't you agree Jenny?" Justine said smartly, this made Shadow's stomach turn.

"If we just stop for one minute… I'll go on the side of the road… please…" he groaned again.

"You can't do that. There are a lot of cameras around here, we'll get caught." she said. Shadow held himself between the legs. "Your just exaggerating, come on you can wait." Shadow shook his head.

"Oh, I'm a bit thirsty, it's time to have a drink…" Justine said teasingly, slurping up the juice out of her carton so Shadow could hear. He covered his ears, but immediately put them between his legs again.

"Ahh! Stop it!" he said, getting tears in his eyes. "You have to stop the van, NOW!" Shadow yelled, "I can't wait any longer!" he ran to the front and begged mike to stop.

"Shadow, that's dangerous!" Jenny yelled. The van had to be stopped and Shadow jumped out and went on the grass by the side of the road. He went back inside looking relieved until he noticed the angry look on people's faces. "Come one everyone, it was only for one minute, I don't think were that behind now. Don't be too hard on him." Jenny said. Shadow's ears were drooped to the side of his head.

"Why can't this all be over…" Shadow said to himself and buried his face in his hands.

They finally got the beach, and the weather was… "Awful! How did I get like this… it was sunny when we left the house!" Tracy said angrily.

"That was a few miles away… we should have checked the weather broadcast." Mike sighed.

"I did, and it said it would be sunny, otherwise I would have said something." Jenny said looking up at the grey clouds. "Maybe it'll clear up soon-" she felt a droplet of water fall on her, so did everyone else.

"NO! This isn't fair, we never get to go to the beach! And now we have to drive all the way back!" Tracy yelled. Shadow sulked silently.

"All of that for nothing… I guess were going home then-"

"Not so fast hedgehog…" he felt the barrel of the gun touch his shoulder, Shadow gulped, he didn't move a muscle.

"Excuse me!" Mike said in a genuinely angry and annoyed tone. "You're that man who did the check on our house!"

"Yes, and I was right, you were giving a home to a priority one criminal!" The commander yelled.

"WHAT!" Mike and Jenny said, their faces went absolutely pale.

"But he's just a kid." Jenny said. "You must have got it wrong."

"He's not a kid… he's actually an adult… no… and adult who usually has the body of a teenager… he's over 50 years old for chaos' sake!" the commander said.

"Younger than you then…" Shadow growled. The commander made the gun click, Shadow was silent again, now sweating.

"I'm guessing you had no idea of this… I'll let you off, as long as you promise to tell no one of this hedgehog's arrest…" the commander said in a solemn voice.

"You can't take Shadow away, he's my friend!" Tracy said and pulled him away from the gun. Shadow looked at the commander with scared eyes.

"I didn't mean to move, don't shoot!" Shadow yelled.

"He was right about not being a kid… I thought he was just trying to act adult." Mike said. "I'm so sorry Shadow, I had no idea."

"I don't blame you." Shadow said putting his hands up and walking over to the commander, Tracy grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "You can't… you might get hurt too… this is my destiny okay… to be his prisoner!" Shadow said, getting tears in his eyes.

"Well… this was a really bad idea!" Zach said looking annoyed. "We try to go to the beach but this old guy brings the clouds with him!" he said, pointing to the commander. The commander went red in the face, you could almost see steam coming out of his ears. He tried to take Shadow but Tracy pulled him away, she then started to run.

"TRACY!" Mike shouted, but she didn't stop, she ran as fast as she could, taking Shadow with her. They heard a gunshot, and a bullet hit the floor, the spot they were just on, "Look at what you have done now! I should call the police!" Mike yelled at the commander.

"I am the police." The commander said, standing tall, but keeled over as Maxy kicked him in the shin. He kids started to laugh and cheer. "Units, move in, he's trying to escape!" The commander said into his walkie talkie, while Shadow and Tracy ran.

**Thank you now to Hande who gave me the painting the chaos emerald idea. **

**Lucy Labrador**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hedgehog At The Dumping Ground**

**Chapter 6**

**Thanks Swift, Hande, Mikaela, and Jeanthehedgehog for the reviews. **

They carried on running until they were out of the distance. "Why did you do that? You could have got hurt!" Shadow said, feeling afraid, nearly crying from shock, he could have been captured again.

"Because, I didn't want you to get hurt… and now, I can be running from the police for real!" she said cheerily.

"So… what you said before… was untrue?" Shadow acted shocked. Tracy looked nervous. "I knew it all along… but I'd understand why… you wish you're life was great, with your mom… I wish so too… I miss my family… and they really did die fifty years ago… I'm all alone now." he said, looking sad. They sat down between some bushes.

"So... You're really an old man?" she said looking disgusted.

"You could say that… but I like to think of myself as a teenager… I'll be a teenager forever once a find a way to get back." he said, yearning for his old body. "I have to… it's the only way I'll get away from him…" he suddenly had a pained expression on his face, his face was scrunched up in pain, he fell to the floor after he let out a scream of pain.

"Shadow!" Tracy screamed and went to see if he was okay.

"Don't touch me!" Shadow cried. "I'm okay…" he said as if he was out of breath, no longer screaming. He got back up again. "Th-the whole of my body was in pain…" he said, getting tears in his eyes. "It hurt so much…" he gasped.

"What's going on? Will I get it too?" Tracy said with fear in her voice. Shadow shook his head.

"I get things like this all of the time… must have been the result of all the experiments done on me." Shadow said and sat up again. "I've got to find a way to get my old body back… and I need to get you home."

"No!" I'm not going home, I'm staying with you!" she yelled, crossing her arms in a strop.

"This is dangerous… the commander doesn't care… the whole of GUN don't care, he could shoot you while trying to get to me!" he said furiously, then looked sad again. "That's what happened to Maria…" he said quietly and looked to the floor sadly. "And I won't let it happen again… it's not fair." Tracy was speechless. "I'm bringing you home… maybe the commander will notice that I'm responsible and let me go…" he said sarcastically. He then fell back down again and let out another scream of pain. "Ugh… why?" he cried out, he fell limp on the floor. "I just… want to… get back to my normal self and go home…" he cried. "I'm tired of being a little kid who can't take the pain…" he groaned, trying to get up. He failed, falling down again.

"Shadow… I'll take you to a hospital!" she said, getting worried because she didn't even know where the nearest hospital was.

"They'll find me there… I can't risk it… but this hurts so much…" he started to cry. He started to calm down as the pain went away again.

"Are you okay now?" she asked.

"No… I know it's gonna come back… so… it's not gone yet." he groaned, breathing heavily, not bothering to get up. "We just have to stay here… and when it's gone, I'm bringing you home… and don't argue with me." Shadow said in a harsh but pained tone.

"You really are and adult… I don't think I like you anymore." Tracy said nastily. "You're just one of them… you're not like me, you're nothing like me… I should have guessed, I wish I did." she said, she got up.

"Don't… run away…" Shadow tiredly. "Please… I don't want you to get hurt… please." he said, and he passed out.

Shadow awoke again feeling stiff, and he had a horrible headache. "Where am I?" he groaned, then he noticed he was on the same sofa as he had woken up on when he first came to the dumping ground. He sat up with a shock, and to his surprise his feet touched the floor when he did, he looked at himself. "I'm… back again!" he smiled. He saw Tracy by the door looking sad.

"You have to leave now, don't you?" she asked sadly. Shadow nodded. "I knew it.. You're not a real friend if you're just going to leave me!" she screamed.

"I'm sorry, if I stay here, the commander will catch me… and this place might get shut down as a result of taking me in… I'm sorry… it's all for the best… now… what happened?"

"Well, remember, you were crying… then you passed out… and while you were passed out you grew again… and Mike was passing by in the van looking for us… so he took us home." Tracy said. Shadow looked surprised.

"So… that's why I was in pain… I was returning back to my normal self… which is great, I didn't even have to make and effort… all I had to go is wait." Shadow smiled, then there was a loud knock on the door, and less than 30 seconds later the commander came charging into the living room where Shadow was.

"That's it hedgehog, I've had enough of you!" the commander said and pointed a gun at Shadow, he chaos controlled to behind the commander, hit him on the head and knocked him out cold.

"I'm out of here…" Shadow said through his teeth, he was furious. "I may visit again one day…" he said. "Okay?" he faced Tracy who was now starting to cry. "Don't cry… I don't want to leave either but, like I said it's the only way."

"I'm not crying.. It's my hay fever." She lied, wiping away her tears. She ran over to Shadow and hugged him, he was still shorter than her, but was nearly as tall as her. "Please visit." she said.

"I will." Shadow said sincerely. "I promise." he nodded, and walked to the door. "Goodbye." he said seriously and left.

Shadow all of a sudden felt so lonely again, but at least no one got hurt, as soon as the commander woke up, he's be after Shadow again, and not them, so he didn't have to worry about them. Besides, the commander wouldn't find Shadow. "Chaos control!" he yelled and teleported to his home- Space Colony ARK so he could finally live a life of peace.

But of course, he would visit them again one day… he made sure of it.

**Thanks for reading and please review if you haven't already. Also, check out my other crossovers, there's quite a few on them and they're all about Shadow, and the series it's crossed over with. Just see if any interest you. Thanks.**

**Lucy Labrador**


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